Computer networks of increasing size and complexity have resulted in corresponding challenges to network installation and maintenance. For instance, a company may deploy a large collection, from dozens to thousands or more, of personal computers or other client machines to support database, email or other services. Some of those machines may be thin network clients, lacking a hard drive or other mass storage medium. Others may contain a hard drive or other storage, but be prone to random hardware failures. In these cases and others, it may become difficult for a systems administrator or others to get a machine to boot into an operating system, such as the Microsoft Windows™ NT™, Windows™ 2000, Windows™ XP™ or other operating systems.
Remote installers designed to inject an operating system into a diskless or failed machine are commercially available. Those platforms typically transmit a small kernel of relatively primitive operating code, such as Microsoft DOS™, to a target machine to instigate file access and other operation. However, such platforms are not capable of installing a relatively comprehensive operating system, such as the aforementioned varieties of Microsoft Windows™, nor are they capable of detecting various types of installed hardware on the target machine, to customize the transmitted operating system accordingly. Other problems exist.